From concept to practice: How agricultural and forestry living labs are implemented within European funded projects

Abstract

Living Labs (LLs) have gained prominence in European research and innovation as mission-oriented, place-based approaches for jointly developing solutions to complex agricultural and forestry challenges. Despite this growing institutional momentum, the operational meaning of LLs remains fluid. This paper examines how LLs are operationalised in European agriculture and forestry research by analysing 36 Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects using data from a dedicated questionnaire distributed to project coordinators. Building on contemporary LL theory, we assess whether project-level LLs reflect four core dimensions of the LL approach: (i) aims, (ii) participants, (iii) activities, including co-creation, iteration, experimentation, and evaluation, and (iv) context. Our findings show considerable variability in how LL principles are understood and applied. Most projects articulate innovation-driven aims and involve diverse stakeholders, yet co-creation often remains consultative rather than genuinely collaborative. Iteration is unevenly implemented, and evaluation practices are weak or fragmented. Although real-life experimentation is widely acknowledged, it is frequently delayed by ecological, organisational, or infrastructural constraints. Territorial embeddedness tends to be strong, but long-term sustainability is often not a main concern, with several established LLs lacking strategies for post-project continuity. Overall, LLs appear constrained by structural features of EU research governance, which limit the openness, adaptability, and reflexive learning central to the LL ethos. By systematising current practices and identifying key gaps, this study provides an empirical basis to strengthen conceptual clarity, methodological coherence, and long-term sustainability in the design and implementation of LLs in future European research and innovation programmes.